


In Love of Another

by RailtracerVino



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Abuse, Angst, F/M, Flaky goes by Fae for a majority of the fic, Fliqpy is not a separate character, Humanized, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Romance, No Beta, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tags to be added, Violence, age gap, may be ooc, this fandom is pretty dead, why am I doing this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 01:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17376938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RailtracerVino/pseuds/RailtracerVino
Summary: They met when she was young. He left for war. Ten years have passed.Flaky, otherwise known as Fae, is a young, shy woman. A year after moving into Happy Tree town to escape her own violent past, she learns of a shut-in war veteran living in the same town. His presence has already increased the death-rate in the area, and everyone avoids him.Fae goes to meet him, regardless of the rumors.





	In Love of Another

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be pretty short, as in, I'm not too confident it will get much viewership, or comments. I just wanted to do a little bit for fun, but if people really want to see this continued, I will try to put something out.

_“Why-Why are you so mean?!”_

A young girl with fists balled up, rubbing wet tears across her cheeks, cried out. She was only six, her cute red dress that her step-mother bought for her, which matched her red, wild hair, was scuffed and torn at the bottom. Her knees were also red, scrapped, bleeding. A couple of boys, older than her by several years, looked down at with expressions of amusement, cruel expressions. 

“Because you’re a whiny little baby! You can’t talk without stuttering, you look like you’re gonna cry all the time!” 

One of the boys stomped on the ground in front of her, making the girl flinch, and sob again.  
“I didn’t d-do anything to you! Why can’t you just leave me alone-ah!-” A fist full of her hair was grabbed, her scalp yanked. “We ain’t gonna leave you alone, you’re just-”

“Hey, what are you kids doing to her?!” 

A male voice yelled out. Flaky, called Fae by her step-mother, lifted her head as her hair was released. She saw a teen boy approaching quickly down the sidewalk, his green eyes wide, alarmed, but his posture ridged, defensive. 

“Oh shi-go!” The two young bullies took off running, their feet thudding down the sidewalk at a breakneck pace. The teen didn’t chase after him, but he did kneel down in front of Fae. 

She looked up at him, then noticed the blood dripping down her leg, staining her dress, and burst into tears. The guy smiled, his large hands coming up. “Hey, hey girl, it’s okay! I know that probably doesn’t feel very good.” 

“I-It hurts! They’re so mean, I-I want to go hooome!” 

“Shh, I got you, don’t worry. Looks like you were walking home, you live nearby?” Asked the young man, as he lifted Flaky into his arms. Fae managed a nod between sobs, wrapping her arms around his neck. She could feel his arms around her, secure, and firm. Her cries quieted down a little. “O-over there…” She pointed, down the street. “The white one…”

The young man looked, and indeed, he saw a home quite a ways down the street, nestled among other pastel coloured houses.  
“Okay, I’ll take you.” He said, walking with her now. You’ll be just fine.” 

The walk was brisk, and soon enough, he was at her home, the door open, and her bright-eyed step mother throwing a fuss as she saw her daughter in tears, with scratches from her brief endeavor. A quick kiss for comfort, some alcohol and bandages later, and a quick change of clothes seemed to sort things out and calm Fae down pretty quick. 

 

“I’m sorry, thank you so much.” The woman said, giving a gracious nod to the teen. “Oh, of course, it wasn’t a problem.” He could see Fae in there, looking at him from the safety of the couch, her eyes large and still glossy from crying, but her flower bandaids seemed to have done the job. The teen left after that, leaving Fae with just a glance, and not another word. It turned out, that that day was the first time Fae walked home by herself. In fact, they both walked the same way home every day. He had been late leaving the highschool yesterday afternoon, which is why he hadn’t seen her sooner.  
From then on, he was always quick to get out, to walk her home. Fae learned that the man that helped her was named Flippy, he was a high-schooler, and a very nice person. 

Three years passed from that day, the times they walked home together, the times he got to see her at her house after school, the times that they were just together, filled the next three years of hers with happiness. They had become close friends, and she was happy with a figure she could admire, and look up to. 

Then a day came, one that Fae didn’t forget, one she would often think about, and feel...sad. 

He told her on a sunday, in the afternoon. It was a warm day, and he had come over unexpectedly. When Fae saw his face, the unfinished smile, the urgent look in his eyes-she knew this wasn’t going to be like the times before, this wasn’t going to be fun.  
Fae was nine now, older, a little wiser. Flippy had a heavy bag on his shoulder, and a bouquet of bright red flowers just for her, with a little necklace attached. They did little to soften the blow.

The necklace and flowers were a gift, because he was going away, he said. 

A war was coming, and it was his duty to go, to fight, and protect his home, and her. 

Away, for how long, neither of them knew. He was leaving that day. Fae didn’t understand, why he had to go, other people were fighting, so why him? That had been the hardest she had cried in a long time. He held her tight, and cried with her, and for a time, neither of them moved. 

 

Eventually, he had to let her go, he had to leave. No matter how hard she cried, or begged, or how much it hurt, nothing she could do would stop him. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever I can to come back home. You’ll see, Fae.”

Then, he was gone. He walked out of her life, and she left his. Ten years would pass before she would ever get the chance to see him again. 

 

Ten years. 

Ten long years. 

He trained

She waited. 

He killed. 

She grew. 

He became a weapon. 

She became a woman. 

Over that time, he sat in the back of her memories. His young boyish face fading, the sound of his voice became more like a whisper than a shout. The necklace he had given her lasted longer than the flowers that had long withered away.

When dangerous circumstances forced her to move from her hometown, to a place called Happy Tree, at the age of eighteen, she had all but forgotten about her childhood friend. She had his necklace, and his kind words, but in the end he had become a stranger to her, a phantom.

The war ended that year she moved into the town. As she adjusted to life in the strange place, where the rumors about life after death, and curses reigned true, she didn’t think much about the man. She graduated high school, turned nineteen, had friends, got a job, and many other things. Life went on, and that year wasn’t so bad. People died, people came back. It was something to get used to. Fae did her best to avoid it, to avoid seeing people die, even if they would come back. 

Being unable to die had appealed to her-although they would all grow old, and not even this curse of a town would stop it-there was nothing here that could permanently hurt her, and that put her at ease. She had been hurt a lot over the last few years, and didn’t want it anymore.

Three days into the second year of her moving into the town, she was quite content. Her life was alright, average, but happy.

People moved in, people moved out. 

She didn’t make it a habit of checking the local death rates, but every now and then, for morbid curiosities sake, (and to see whether it was a good day to go shopping, depending on the trends.) She would glance at the numbers, and judge whether the local deaths might prove informational. If it would be less likely for her to get hurt, if she went out.  
That day, a particular set caught her eye. It was larger than the other numbers in the list, and it was bigger than average. Two months ago, there were a total of twenty three deaths-and not just deaths, but murders. Accidents and casualties were quite normal in this place, and most of the deaths themselves were labeled accidents, because very few people went out of their way to kill one another in this town.

Twenty three murders, though? 

She reached for her phone, wondering if Petunia, one of the locals she had managed to befriend despite her own shy nature, might know about it. “Now that I think about it, I did hear something about this…” 

A quick ring later, and Petunia was talking with her. 

_“What do you mean? You don’t know what happened?”_ Petunia cut in after her question. _“Where’s your head been, girl? We talked about it before, or, at least I did when we were with Cuddles, do you really not remember?”_

“N-no, sorry! I wasn’t really paying attention...the deaths here don’t really strike me as...proper conversational topics.” Fae said, her head down. 

_“Well, anyways,”_ Petunia went on, nonplussed. _“Yeah, this guy moved in like two months ago-those deaths occurred a few days after he got into town. I heard he’s some war vet.  
Since it’s over, they all gotta go somewhere. We got a crazy one, can you believe it?”_

“I don’t think that’s very nice, Petunia. A-a lot of people died. I’m sure the guy must have s-seen a lot of bad stuff.” Fae said, and could practically hear her roll her eyes on the other end of the line.  
_“Yeah, sure. Vet or not, the guy is weird. Good thing he’s a shut in. Cuddles of all people delivers his groceries. Says he gets a good chunk of change each delivery. I think he’s crazy, even going near that freak.”_

 

Normally, Fae would agree, a little. Going around someone who commited that many murders.. It did seem a little strange. “Where does he live…?”  
Petunia scoffed. _“He’s Cuddle’s neighbor. Don’t even think about going over there.”_ Petunia warned.  
  
“I...I won’t. Thanks, Petunia. Have a good day.” Fae said, before she hung up. 

Was she really thinking about going there, though? The chance was slight, but, what if he knew...knew him? It wouldn’t hurt to ask, and besides, if he did hurt her...she would be fine.  
Although, it was still a terrifying thought. The whole reason she had come to this town was to get away from people who would hurt her. 

Fae took in a breath, looking around her small home. It was quiet, still. Sunlight poured into the windows. 

“I....want to go see him.” 

She had decided, she would go.


End file.
